Maureen Theresa Lehane Wishart (18 September 1932 – 27 December 2010) was an English mezzo-soprano singer, university lecturer and founder of the Great Elm Music Festival, Jackdaws Music Education Trust and an annual Vocal Award for young singers. 　　As a professional singer, Maureen performed at Sadler's Wells in the Handel Opera Society's production of Ariodante in 1974, Glyndebourne Festival,[10] Royal Festival Hall in 1970, and at Carnegie Hall in 1966 in Handel's Serse. She sang across the UK, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Sweden and the U.S. In 1971, she went on a five-month tour of Australia, the Orient and the Middle East. Her repertoire extended from early composers such as Monteverdi, Handel and Bach through Brahms and Wagner to Honegger, Britten and Skalkottas. 　　Maureen never felt at home in large concert venues. She performed several times at the BBC Proms[13] in productions of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass and Stravinsky's Les Noces. 　　Lehane was mostly at home in Handel operas and oratorios; over the span of her career she was involved in over 100 productions of Handel's Messiah, 50 Bach cantatas and 40 St Matthew Passions. 　　Towards the end of her life she gave up performing, after making many recordings which perpetuate her name and reputation. She died in Great Elm.